


Inkredible Power

by techitisJ



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Agent 3 and Agent 8 like eachother but won't admit to it, Agent 5 (a second Agent 4 basically), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship, One-Shots, Team Bonding, Team as Family, slightly AU, team shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-07-05 19:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/techitisJ/pseuds/techitisJ
Summary: Agent 4 and Agent 5 have always wanted to form their own competitive team, but have not had any luck finding two more teammates. But when Agent 3 and Agent 8 stop working full-time for Cap'n cuttlefish, and kind of need a place to stay in Inkopolis Square, the four agents band together and form a team. This is a series of one-shots following the adventures this team will have on and off the battlefield.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thanks for stopping by and giving this a read. After you read this part, you can get a little more on the characters in the next chapter. This is my first time posting a work to Archive of Our Own, and my first Splatoon fanfiction.

Prologue

 

The sun was setting over Octo Canyon. Outside of a small hut, in broken down chairs, sat 3 Inklings, talking amongst themselves. “So, how are things going here in the canyon, any ruckus, Marie?” the much older of the 3 inklings, a frail looking guy with an old bamboozler as a cane, asked a younger inkling with white and green tentacles and a dark kimona.

“Things have going quite well here. Agent 4 and Agent 5 have worked well together to complete all the research of the Hero Weapons, and will still come around occasionally to maintain order with the Octarians,” Marie, the younger inkling replied. The other inkling girl beside her, wearing a casual sweater and beanie over her black and pink tentacles jumped up beside her.

“You should see ‘em, Gramps! Agent 4 and 5 work so well together. It’s quite amazing. At first we thought they would divide and conquer down here, but they worked together all the way, always at each others back!” she exclaimed.

“Callie’s right, they do work quite well together. It’s actually quite a shame that they just haven’t been able to find chemistry with a couple more team members. They really want to enter the competitive scene, but they just can’t find a team that will stick,” Marie added.

“That’s quite a shame, especially if they work so well together all ready. Ha, Agent 3 and 8 could really learn a thing or two from them. I usually have them working together, because they have been entering some dangerous areas, but the two can hardly agree on a thing.”

“Really? Agent 8 seemed super friendly and easy to work with when we talked to him,” Callie questioned.

Marie laughed though. “Oh, it’s not him. I bet it’s Agent 3 isn’t it? She’s always been so stubborn!”

“It’s her alright. That squid is as stubborn as Sheldon, and that’s on a good day. On a bad day, it’s way worse,” Cap’n Cuttlefish noted. “I worry for them actually. They spend so much time down in the Deep Sea, with very little contact with other Cephalopods their age. I’m thinking of letting them go, and only calling upon them occasionally.”

“Oh my gosh. Wait! Agent 4 and 5 said they have been trying to find a couple teammates. And Agent 3 and Agent 8 would probably need a place to stay! Maybe they could all team up!”

“Yeah, that might work!” Cuttlefish exclaimed, but Marie shook her head.

“I think we should at least ask them all how they feel about this first. Who knows. Maybe you let Agent 3 and Agent 8 go, they might want to go their separate ways. Agent 8 also has very little connections to anyone, as far as we know. I mean, he can only remember his name, and a bit of what happened before you found him at the Deep Sea Metro. Plus, we just went over how Agent 3 always works alone. Before she started working full-time for you captain, she was a solo-player. She might just go back to what she used to do.”

“That is true, but I think it’s worth a try. You know, those 4 have done so much for us these past couple years. I think the least we could do is try to make sure that they are able to get by out there, in Inkopolis Square,” Callie told her sister.

“That’s right,” Cuttlefish nodded.

Marie sat there, thinking for a moment. “Alright. We’ll call for them to all meet here tomorrow,” she told them, and they all agreed.

 

Tammi walked down the heart of Inkopolis Square, a taller Octoling boy who had been one of her very few companions for the past year or so, walking beside her. “Stay close, Juni,” she whispered to him, as he looked around. _He probably feels as anxious as I do being out here._

“Not planning on veering away,” he responded, and she confirmed her prediction, hearing the very slight quiver in his voice. “So you used to live here?”

“No, I lived at the outskirts of Inkopolis Plaza. Apparently in the two years I’ve been working full time for the Cap’n, the Turf War and Ranked scene moved to this place. Apparently a lot has changed too, but I don’t know too many details,” Tammi explained. “Over there, I think that manhole is the entrance to Octo Canyon. Hah, just like the Octo Valley entrance.”

The two walked to the supposed entrance, then entered squid and octo forms, and made their way down.

Popping out of the grates on the other side, the first members of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Agents 1 and 2, were waiting with Cap’n Cuttlefish.

“Glad to see you guys found your way okay,” Agent 1 greeted them, standing up and waving them over. “Oh my gosh Agent 8 you are looking as adorable as ever.” Juni immediately blushed at this, and looked down at the ground.

“Uh, thank you Agent 1,” his voice came out small. The octoling still wasn’t that used to compliments.

“Agent 3 and 8, you made it, buckos!” Cap’n Cuttlefish greeted them as well. Tammi nodded to him, and Juni waved.

“Agent 3 and 8, it’s good to see you. Agents 4 and 5 are on their way. Always late those two,” Agent 2 greeted them.

“So, how was your mission clearing out the last of the Sanitization chambers?” the Cap’n asked the two.

“We took care of any wandering sanitized octarians, including a few sanitized Octolings, and cleaned up the place. All that disgusting goop should be gone now, so we don’t have to worry about it getting into the wrong hands,” Tammi told her captain.

“We even managed to save an Octoling who was only partially infected. We found the reversal serum while cleaning up and injected it into her system. I even kept some of it in case there is a problem with Sanitization again,” Agent 8 added in.

“Great work you two, and great thinking Agent 8,” the Cap’n complimented them, and Juni looked down again.

“Sorry we’re late!” a voice called out, and the members of the Squidbeak Splatoon all looked behind them to find their two youngest members, Agent 4 and 5.

Tammi and Juni had never met either of these two Agents before. Apparently they became Agents about 6 months before Juni had become an Agent. She had never had the time to o meet these new Agents.

The first was an inkling boy, about the same height she was, with his tentacles held back into a ponytail, and one of them flopped out and the side of his head. The other one was a smaller inkling girl with short tentacles. They both donned hat apparently was the new Agent gear, a green jacket, with light up Hero Headphones, with a lime green Hero Hoodie, and what look like black puffy snowboots.

“It’s okay, we’re quite used to it by now,” Marie smirked at the two. “Agents 3 and 8, this is Agent 4,” she pointed to the boy, “And this is Agent 5,” she pointed to the girl.

“And Agents 4 and 5, this is Agent 3,” Callie gestured to her, “and Agent 8,” and then over to the Octoling next to her.

“Oh wow, so we’re all here together, that’s really cool!” Agent 5 exclaimed.

“Yeah it is! I always hoped we would all have a mission together!” Agent 4 cheered. Tammi couldn’t help but smile, these two were the lively bunch.

“It’s a pleasure being able to work with you,” Juni bowed a bit beside her. Still as formal as ever around cephalopods he didn’t know. Tammi nodded after him, giving them a friendly smile.

“Actually, the reason we have you four together here today is not a mission, but a proposition for you all,” Cap’n Cuttlefish told them.

The four younger Agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon looked to the older man, who clutched onto his bamboozler that supported over half of his weight. “What is it, Cap’n?” Tammi was the first to ask.

“Well, I guess my first surprise is to you two,” he looked to Juni and Tammi. “While there is still work to be done in the Deepsea Metro, but we just don’t need two full-time Agents anymore. I still plan to call on you when there is work to be done, but I think it’s time you both go back out, into Inkopolis. You buckos are still so young, and there’s still so much fun to be had in Inkopolis. And with Octolings now free to roam around you would not have to worry about Inklings looking at you funny, Agent 8.” he explained.

Juni’s eyes widened, and his face brightened into a smile. The boy had always dreamed of living in Inkopolis, and those dreams only got bigger after seeing the surface for the first time about 6 months ago, after they had first met.

Tammi couldn’t help her surprised feelings as well. Yes, she had held some desire to go back to inkopolis, but playing Turf Wars without a team just stopped being fun, and she wasn’t sure how to push herself to find a team. And, even though her parents paid half of her rent and living expenses, while they were away in Inkopolis Heights, dominating the competitive scene there, she just couldn’t make the money needed to live in Inkopolis Plaza. So, she started working full-time for the captain. Where room and board were free.

“Do you guys want to switch to a part-time position, or do you want to stay?” the Cap’n asked. Juni’s response was immediate. He never sounded more sure of anything since when she first met him.

“Yes. I really would love to live here in Inkopolis Square. What about you, Ta- I mean Agent 3?” he turned to her, and Tammi felt all eyes on her.

She thought for almost a minute. Did she stay working in Deepsea Metro, where she would basically be alone again, since Juni was set on living in Inkopolis, or does she move here and try to make a fresh start for herself?

“Yes, I think I’ll move here as well,” she nodded to them.

“Wonderful,” Callie cheered.

“Now, that begs are next question. You guys have done so much for us, so much for saving Inkopolis, and continuing to protect it. All of you have done so well. Agent 4 and 5, I know you guys have been commuting out from your parents home in the outskirt of inkopolis Square, and Agents 3 and 8, you will probably need somewhere to live. The Cuttlefish family has decided to use some of our funs to get you guys an apartment in Inkopolis Square. The competitive scene in Inkopolis Square has been absolutely amazing as of late and I bet if you guys all worked together, you could easily pay us back, for about half of it, and continue to support yourselves there. So how do you guys feel about all moving in together and working together? With your parents permission of course.” Agent 2 questioned them.

Agents 4 and 5 looked at each other, and then to Juni and Tammi. “We have been looking for two more teammates, and it would be nice not having to commute to Inkopolis Square and back everyday,” Agent 5 noted, Agent 4 nodded his head along.

“I’ve always wanted to live in the heart of Inkopolis,” Juni nodded. ‘So that’s a yes from me.”

“Well, I guess Inkopolis Plaza is no longer what it used to be, and frankly really expensive to live around. I never thought I’d be joining a team, but I guess I am,” Tammi smiled, she looked to the older members. “We’ll do it!”


	2. Author's Note/Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a simple explanation of the characters and timeline before, and what the one-shots could be about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for giving this little part here a look. I just have it here for my own sake, and if anyone was wondering the anything about the characters or the timeline, since this story is slightly canon-divergent.

About the Characters

Tammi - Agent 3 - Female - 17 - Heavy Splatling Deco - Special Power Up, Run Speed Up, Object Shredder

Junius (Juni) - Agent 8 - Male - 16 - Sloshing Machine - Special Power Up, Ink Saver Sub, Ink Saver Main

Chase - Agent 4 - Male - 15 - L-3 Nozzelnose D - Special Power Up, Run Speed Up, Ink Saver Sub

Evelyn (Eve) - Agent 5 - Female - 15 - Glooga Duelies Deco - Run Speed Up, Special Powr Up, Ink Saver Main

 

Note for the timeline of events beforehand,

3 years ago - Tammi becomes Agent 3, and doing matches in Inkopolis Plaza

2 years ago - Tammi starts working full-time for the captain

1 year ago - Chase and Evelyn become Agents 4 and 5

6 months ago - Juni has a battle with Agent 3, and then becomes Agent 8


	3. Forming the Team Composition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team has been formed and are all setttling into their new home and new lives, but now comes the struggle of finding a weapon composition that works for them.

Forming a Team Composition

 

Junius rolled over onto his side, gazing at the clock, 8:30am. He yawned, sitting up in his bed and looking over across the way at his roommate. Tammi lay their, rolled up in her blankets, and snoring lightly. He gave a small chuckle, and moved to get out of bed. 

Inklings sure were late sleepers. Octolings were often up by 7 or so in the morning. With very little artificial power source down there, they had to rely on natural light, so being up earlier was always better. He knew that Tammi preferred to sleep in a little, but he hadn’t expected most inklings to always be late risers. 

It had only been 4 days since he moved to Inkopolis Square, and it was quite an easy move, at least for him, as he didn’t own too much to bring with him. Just his guitar, and pictures of his family. His mom was so happy for him, going up to the surface, and his little sister told him that one day she would do the same thing. He hoped that she could one day.

Getting up, he washed up and got ready for the day. It was barely 8:45 by the time he was able to start the coffee pot. 

Checking the small schedule Agent 5 had wrote, it looked like today was the day they were going to meet with Sheldon and start looking at weapons for him, and what kind of team comp they should do. The only weapon he had to his name was his Octoshot, and as much as he loved it, he really wanted to go the more non-traditional route of the shooter, and maybe do something different. 

Agent 5, wait, Eve, was pretty skilled with all the Duelie weapons, which seemed like a great advantage for the, as from what he has heard from Agent 4… Chase, the duelie weapons were very big in the competitive field. Chase himself was pretty flexible, but preferred shooters. He also really loved the power of the semi-automatic ones like the L-3s and H-3s. He told me when he used to watch matches that once took place in Inkopolis Plaza, he had always wanted to dominate with the Cherry H-3 Nozzlenose.

As for Tammi, she barely spoke of her former days of Inkopolis Plaza. That information he had gotten out of Chase. He had explained to Junius that Tammi was once a well-known rogue Splatterscope player. Her skill with chargers was immense, and she could use other weapons pretty well too. He wondered why Tammi ever stopped when she was such a powerful player. 

Decision making was quite tough for the group, especially after trying to figure out how to set up the living room, and who is sleeping in what side of the room, and who gets what spot on the cabinet. They weren’t the most cooperative team around, so Junius hoped that at least with a vague idea of knowing the types of weapons everyone liked, they would be able to set up a Team Composition before next week. 

 

The four agents made their way through Inkopolis Plaza, Junius quite surprised to see it so empty. “Where is everyone at, 5?” he asked his friend. 

The younger inkling girl turned back to smile at him. “While matches can be played all through the night, it’s usually pretty dead from 4am to 10am. And just call me Eve, okay Juni?” 

“Oh right, sorry, and thank you Eve,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. It was not the easiest getting used to calling 4 and 5 by their real names. He had been calling Tammi by her name for a long time because he had known her longer, and he had worked with her. He knew with time he would get used to addressing his new friends by their names, but it was still quite odd for him now.

The group made it to Ammo Knights, Sheldon was there to greet them. Ammo Knights was usually just an ordinary weapon shop. But you could set up an appointment to use the Testing Facility with your team and test out weapon compositions, without having to buy any of the weapons previously.

The sea creature lead them to the back, asking if they wanted any help deciding on a team comp, which they turned down, not wanting to keep him away from his work. From what Agent 2 was saying, Sheldon had been putting the finishing touches on his new brand of weapons, which he was making in collaboration with a popular gear brand.

“Alright guys, so I’ve been doing a lot of research on what’s very strong in the competitive game and I think we should start picking out weapons we can use based on that…” Chase broke off his beginning speech, looking towards Tammi’s direction. Junius looked beside him and noticed the squid was already missing. He turned back and found her already shuffling through the weapons. “Uh, Tammi?”

“Sorry Chase, as nice as meta is, I think we should just start trying weapons, see what we feel comfortable with, and then start going,” the older squid replied, leaning into the box of Chargers and grabbing the Firefin Splatterscope. The three watched her as she ignored Chase’s protests, going over to the Dummies and starting to practice her shots. She hit a few, then finally looked back. “Well, anyone gonna join me?” she asked.

Eve went first, grabbing a pair of Glooga Duelies, and starting her own target practice. Chase gave in as well and picked up an L-3 Nozzlenose D. “I have the H-3 D back at the apartment, but it’s very difficult to get used to. It’s not meta, but I think I’ll start with this,” he told Junius as he went over to start his own practice.

Junius also went to the weapons, and looked at each one carefully. He had used most of the baseline weapons when going through the Deepsea Metro, so he thought he’d try some he hadn’t seen before. The Ballpoint Splatling was the first to catch his eye, as well as the Bloblobber. They were very recent additions to Sheldon’s lineup. He decided to go with the Blobblober first.

Shcking bubbles out was really fun, and they splashed off of walls, different than any slosher weapon he had used. But it felt kind of odd too. As powerful as it could be, he thought he might prefer another weapon more. 

He then grabbed the Ballpoint Splatling. The weapon was so cool! It was kind of like a Mini Splatling and a Hydra Splatling had a baby. But splatlings really weren’t his strong point. Before he went to put it back though, he heard Tammi let out a sigh. 

“Sorry guys,” she spoke softly. Eve and Chase who were over by the moving dummies didn’t even hear her, he had to flag them over. 

“What’s up?” Junius asked. “Why are you sorry?”

“I know… I know I have talent with snipers… but the truth is I got bored of sniper. I got tired of the nasty comments I would get after the hea of battle. That’s why I left. I’m trying to come back, I really am. I know my skill lies with chargers.. But I don’t want to play them,” she told them.

“Then don’t,” Chase told her. What a change of heart he had. The inkling boy moved over to grab her weapon, and put it away for her. “Earlier, you taught me we should just use what we like. And I think one thing that is super important for us guys is that we don’t have to stick to one set of weapons. Yes I do think we should have a specific set to register under, but we can be flexible. We don’t have a lot of cash, but after playing for a while, we can go buy more weapons to use.”

“Yeah, having fun is the main thing here,” Eve agreed. “What weapon do you think you will have the most fun with?” 

Tammi gave a rare smile, and she looked towards Junius. “Do you mind if I try this?” she asked him, gesturing to his ballpoint.

“Of course,” he smiled, handing the weapon to her. Tammi went over and tested out the Ballpoint. She seemed to enjoy it, so he grabbed another weapon, and let her have fun.

The weapon he picked up was the Sloshing Machine. He had only used the weapon once during his time in the Deep Sea, but he absolutely loved it when he did. It functioned like a blaster, but as a slosher at the same time, and was probably the coolest thing out there. And with a special weapon like the stingray, it would be a lot of fun. 

He joined Tammi again with training, and the two took down all the dummies multiple times. “I like this Ballpoint a lot, but I think I want to try just a normal splatling too. I remember using those a lot towards the end of my time at Inkopolis Tower,” she told him, going back and grabbing the Heavy Splatling Deco.

The moment he saw her use it, she saw the squid light up. Memories of his fight with her when they first met flowed through his mind. The pure glee she had in her face anytime she used the Bubble Blower was awesome. She really loved the bubbles.

The team all joined back up after a little while, having all settled on weapon type. “This looks like a really good composition,” Junius noted, looking around. Eve had actually changed out her Glooga Duelies for the Deco variant, since she liked the Splash Wall a lot with the weapon. 

“None of us got the same special either,” Tammi noted.

“And I think we all got really decent specials. They can all be use very well in offense, and defense. I think this worked ou really well,” he noted.

“You know, we agreed a lot more than I thought we would,” Eve laughed.

“Okay, let’s go register!” Junius cheered, and they all joined him. They went to Sheldon to buy and register their weapons and team, and then went to pick up some gear. 

 

The four walked back through Inkopolis Square, their new weapon cases hanging from their backs, and bags of gear in their hands. When registering with Sheldon, they decided to call themselves Inkredible Power, because they would be powerful. Junius found it awfully funny how they all also bought gear with Special Power Up. 

Chase had been extremely helpful with all of them on what kind of gear they would use with their weapons, as that had not been a thing he and Tammi had studied in their last few days, and Eve told the two she always relied on Chase for her gear builds.

Junius was morning had gone so well for them, and they were all getting along. As they walked back, they saw another team getting ready to go start some matches. Junius felt a tension rise, and quickly went to trace it.

Before he could pick it out though, one of the members of the team had tuned their head. It was a tall male Inkling, with muscular arms and ink tattoos going down them. “Well well well, what brings you here, Princess?” the inklings eyes were directly staring into Tammi’s and she held his gaze, a frown piercing her lips. 

Junius immediately found himself wanting to step in front of Tammi, and hide her from the older inkling’s gaze, but he knew the older squid wouldn’t like that. 

Tammi walked forward, leading the team over to his. It was those steps she took, leading them, that the other three looked at each other for a second, and let off a silent nod of agreement. Tammi was leader here, and that’s how it was going to be. They had told Sheldon that they would go back and tell them who would be leader, after discussing it with the group. But the three could agree now that the oldest of the 4 was meant for the job.

“I’m making a comeback, Logie,” she smirks at this, and from the annoyance in the other’s eyes, she could see it wasn’t the best nickname. Knowing Tammi, she probably didn’t like her own nickname. 

“Yeah, and with a team it seems. You finally decide to get a team, shame you couldn’t have made it on mine. But, we have an even better sniper here,” he pointed to a small inkling girl, with the chopped tentacle hairstyle, and a bored expression on her face. Her Splat Charger chase rested at her side. “I’ve got the best team here in Inkopolis Square hun, think you can compete with me?”

“I’m sure we can,” she grinned. “These two here are well versed in the ways of Inkopolis Square,” she pointed out Chase and Eve. “And this one is the toughest cephalopod I’ve ever met. I don’t think it gets better than this,” she gestured to Junius, and he felt a wave of joy at her complement, and pride in himself.

It vanished though at the other’s next move. “I look forward to it,” the inkling boy reached out and touched her face. And the momentary flash of uncertainty in Tammi’s eyes was enough to break Junius’ restraint. He whacked the other male’s arm away with one hand, and gently pulled Tammi away with the other,, holding her firm against himself. 

The inkling male laughed, and called his team away. “See ya later Princess,” he called, and Tammi broke out of Junius’ grasp. Junius felt bad, but he didn’t like the way the other was treating her, at all. “Logan!” she called.

The other turned back, looking at her. 

“Next tuesday, 1pm, let’s battle!” she called out to him. He grinned in response.

“Sounds like a deal,” he replied, and his team walked away. Tammi let off a smile, and then turned away.

“Sorry about him, guys,” Tammi looked over at her teammates. “He’s a former rival from my days in the Plaza. He was the other reason I quit. He formed a team, and tried to convince me to join it. But I just wasn’t interested in playing his sniper. I wanted the competition we once shared, and with him in a team, I wasn’t going to get it,” she explained. 

“So your competition wanted you to remain being the amazing sniper that you were, and that’s why even now, you have trouble wanting to use it. Right?” Eve asked her. 

“That’s exactly right,” Tammi nodded, then looked down and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry about not asking you guys beforehand with scheduling the battle. I can always cancel the plans for it. We’re a team, and heck we don’t even have a team leader yet.”

“No, keep the plans,” Chase said, and we all nodded in agreement. “And besides, I think you just proved to us all that you would be the best leader for us,” he stated.

Tammi looked at her other two teammates, and they both let off a nod at Chase’s statement. She sighed, and then smiled. “Okay. Well then guys I think we go ourselves setup here to have a great start. Today we’ll hang out, and tomorrow we’ll do our first practice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and hope you enjoyed. Sorry it took a while, life happened, plus I'm working on other projects. Thanks again.


	4. The First Team Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the Team's first practice match, and it seems to be a mix of nervousness and excitement. This group of agents is about to enter the competitive scene, let's hope the poor squids and octos around them know what they are getting into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, got a second chapter out fast. Really wanted to get this one done as I'll be doing a Halloween special next. Hope you all enjoyed.

The First Team Practice

 

Chase slipped on his half-rimmed glasses and checked himself out in the mirror. Dang, this gear was cool. Annie had dropped off their remaining gear that wasn’t selling too well to the vendors in Inkopolis Square, so the group got some good deals on gear with different abilities than their normal gear. Annie usually sold it for a higher price on the Splatnet E-Shop.

He passed by the bathroom, seeing Eve scrambling to get ready. She had slept in like crazy, and practically stuffed down her cereal. “Chase, have you seen my Fishfry Bandana? I could have swore I saw it yesterday,” she mumbled, looking around while trying to button up her Inkfall button-up top.

“Uhh,” he looked around, and spotted the bandana sitting at the bottom of her bag, under another piece of gear she bought that she really loved, but didn’t work with her weapon at all. He grabbed it and handed it to her. “There ya go.”

“Thanks,” she wrapped it under her short tentacles, pulling the back ones up and tying it over her head. “How do I look?” she did a little twirl for him. 

“Adorable,” he smiled, and she laughed, giving him her hand. He took it and spun her around. The two had been best friends since they were small. Having been neighbors, they grew up together, and it helped a lot that their families were close. The two walked out to the main room together.

Tammi and Junius were already out there. Tammi held her usual poker face. The girl was quite an enigma. It was always so difficult to see what she was feeling.

Junius on the other hand looked nervous. He knew the Octoling was excited for his first ever Team based Turf War. He had been doing research on everything related to the matches that took place in Inkopolis. He actually asked Chase quite a few questions, which was strange for because of his usual shyness.

“Okay, you guys ready?” Tammi asked, standing up, Juni following immediately after her. Chase and Eve nodded that they were. “Let’s go,” Tammi nodded, and they walked out the door and took the elevator down to the main floor.

“I have us set up to go against new teams, like us. We are going to have to work together. Teamwork is bigger now than it has ever been before, our specials work a lot better with the support of each other. No more Kraken days,” Chase explained to them all, going over what they had gone over many times before.

“Got it,” Juni replied and Tammi nodded.

“As much as I love going in alone, I’ll make sure not too unless I know it's safe,” Eve smiled. Chase was raided with flashbacks of the inkling girl running into the other team’s base with her Dark Tetra Duelies, and just trying to wreak havoc on them. Most of attempts in solo matches ended in success, but quite a few times when they were looking for teammates, she did so, and she would fail hard. It even was the deciding factor one time to not let her on the team. Chase of course didn’t want to leave his friend, so even though he was invited to stay, he left.

“Remember to keep up with communication too. Not all teams have these headsets. We just happened to get lucky,” Tammi gestured to the small earpiece and mouthpiece she had. They all had one.

Last night, Cap’n Cuttlefish came over with the earpieces as a gift for all of them. They were something he and Sheldon had designed, and were very similar to the ones that Sheldon designed for teamplay. They allowed teammates to communicate with each other while on the battlefield, and the particular ones they had were modeled like the best ones, where you can merely whisper into the mic and it would catch it well. Smaller teams didn’t usually have them, and if they did most of the time it was a cheaper one where you had to talk louder. It was very nice of the Cap’n and Sheldon to help the group with such amazing mics.

They all nodded their agreement. 

As they made it to the streets of Inkopolis Square, Chase really began to feel what tey were about to go into. He had a team now, they were a real time, about to have their first practice together. They would start the day with turf war, and then once they got that down they would go into some league. Juni and Tammi had come a couple days before the group moved into to register themselves, and to go into Turf War for a while to get their level u so they could go play ranked, and then try to get their rank up. Chase knew Tammi was well skilled, but he was surprised to hear that Juni ranked up just as fast, and really put in the effort. He even watched some of the battles. The two had skill.

The group was worried at first about being able to form the team right, because they knew two of them were drastically under level. But it worked out. It also turned out the reason they were able to pick from every weapon is because once you have a team, it’s assumed you know a lot more, and you are given the option to buy any weapon, even if you have not hit the level it was offered at.

“Oh my gosh! Phoebe!” Eve jumped and made a run for it, dodging other cephalopods to make it to a tall inkling girl with a long side tentacle. Eve practically jumped into the other inkling girl’s arms, and the two shared a quick kiss. 

Phoebe was Eve’s girlfriend of about 3 months. They had met while doing some ranked matches. Eve had immediately called Chase after talking with Phoebe and talked all about the girl she had met. It didn’t take long for Phoebe to be swayed either. The two had to be one of the cutest couples in Inkopolis. They had to go for the Cutest Couple award next year.

Eve dragged her girlfriend over. “Tammi, Juni, this is my girlfriend Phoebe. You remember how I told you about her. She does solo matches, and isn’t really into joining a team. Like you once were, Tammi,” Eve explained. 

Phoebe gave a shy smile and waved. The girl wasn’t very talkative, but was very sweet. She loved a lot of cute things, probably one of the reasons she loves Eve so much.

“We’re about to start our first day of practice,” Eve told her.

“Good luck. Solo matches have been rough so far. I just came out to get a Sub Saver soda,” Phoebe told her. The two shared a short kiss goodbye, and the team was on their way again.

They made their way into the lobby, and everyone swept their new cards that had been sent to them. They checked in for team games, and Chase found it odd skipping the lockers. In solo matches, everyone set their stuff in a locker, but in team matches, it was kept in the room that was given to the team while they had their matches.

“Wow, this is really happening,” Juni breathed as the 4 walked in to the team lobby. Various teams were sitting out there, waiting to see where they would be matched up. Tammi put her hand on the octoling’s hand, and Chase could feel the connection. The two didn’t seem like they worked well together, from stories he and Eve had heard, but seeing them like this now, they surely had some connection.

“You got this,” she whispered to him. She looked around  after letting go of his hand, and pointed up at a screen. “There, that’s our current team division,” on the screen it said the teams were being calculated. A minute later, the matches were set, and they were directed to a door. 

Another team followed them in, their opponents. The team was made up of two octoling boys, an inkling girl, and was lead by an Octoling girl. “Hi,” she walked up to them, bringing her team with her. “I’m Rochelle, leader of Team Splash Berry. You guys are Team Inkredible Power, right?”

“Yes,” Tammi nodded, and stepped forward. “I’m Tammi, leader of Team Inkredible,” the two shook hands. 

“Hmm, looks like we’re opposites,” she smiled, looking over her team, and then to ours. “May the best cephalopod win,” she told them, and lead her team to their lockers. They would be doing 5 matches against the team, so they had a little bit. Chase turned off his shellphone and slipped it into his weapon case, and his teammates did similar. While they were finishing up, Chase looked over at the other Team. Rochelle held a pair of Custom Duelie Squelchers in her hands, and she was discussing something with one of the Octoling boys, who had a Krack-On Splat Roller over his back. The other Octoling boy held a Firefin Splatterscope, and the Inkling girl had a Sploosh-o-Matic. They had a very good composition for turfing.

After a minute, they were called over to their platform.

“Remember to keep turfing everyone, don’t get too kill hungry. We have a very turf heavy team going against us, especially with the Sploosh-o-matic and the Custom Duelie Squelchers. And keep an eye on that Sploosh, they like to slip behind enemy lines a lot with curling bombs,” Chase noted.

“You don’t have to worry about the Custom Duelie Squelchers, consider them taken care of,” Eve hissed, her brows furrowed. Eve made her hatred for the weapon well-known. She justified it well too. It’s range was disgusting for a pair of dualies that shoots as fast as it did, and being able to have that little slide after the dodge roll is a lot. 

“We got this guys,” Juni smiled, and as the platform was raised, the 4 put their hands together and did a quick “Go Team!” and got back in position to start the match.

The music started, and the match was started. They were at New Albacore Hotel, a recent addition to the map rotation. New Albacore Hotel was very range friendly, so Chase immediately had the team adjust for that. “Be careful of the Firefin Splatterscope guys, he’s on a map where he can excel in. Tammi, you make sure you have somewhere safe you can move around in, he spoke over the headset.

“I’ll be fine,” Tammi noted. Looking out, the girl had already rushed out, choosing a high platform  on the right side of the map. Right away, the Splat rolle was walking down the grates, and he had excellent view of Tammi dropping down and rushing the roller. Flashbacks of watching Tammi play when Chase was younger hit him. She was a mobile player, no matter what weapon she was playing. She wasn’t going to stay on one platform.

Chase inked down his side to go support her when he saw those Sploosh-o-matic swimming around her. She ran out of ink at the worst moment, as the Sploosh caught her behind her splash wall and got her. “Damnit, on me,” she called out through er headset.

Chase was quick to avenge her, but the Sploosh had gotten too close and got him as well. “Got her, trade,” he called out. He jumped once to Eve once he respawned, as she had just gotten the Custom Duelie Squelchers, true to her word. 

Juni was near them, busy taking out the splat roller again. His last slosh doesn’t connect though, and he gets sniped by the Firefin Splatterscope. “I got you Juni,” Tammi’s voice goes over the headset.

Within seconds, the Splatterscope is dead, Tammi having snuck around. Unfortunately , she is caught off guard by the Sploosh-o-matic again. “On me.”

Chase goes do get the Sploosh and the Splat Roller, as Eve goes to hold the enemies off. “Stupid Duelie Squelchers, on me!” he hears Eve call over her headset, and suddenly he is the only one on the field, with three enemies looking at him. He gets one, before getting taken down himself.

“Alright guys, that was a wipe, et’s try to get back out there!” Tammi called over headset, already pushing forward. She chose to stick on the platform this time, at least till the others were out there. She traded with the Custom Duelie Squelchers, unfortunately as she had very very valuable bubble blower special. 

“Juni, jump on back if you can and try to get a stingray out on the field,” Chase instructed.

“Got it,” Juni jumped back to spawn, and got to a good vantage point. A moment later, Chase noticed the stingray on the field. He got two, which allowed him and Eve to push forward a bit. They were now in the last 30 seconds of the game, but the map was looking overwhelmingly pink over their blue. He and Eve tried to continue to push forward, but the Firefin Splatterscope got a collateral snipe on them. 

“On us!” Eve called, as the two of them respawned. They emerged from the spawn point, Eve shaking her head. She was right, they were too close together, and coupled with the earlier wipe, it was going to cost them the game. 

Chase swam out, while Eve jumped to Tammi who was trying to hold them back with her power of suppression. They ended up getting a couple quick kills, but it was not enough. The match ended. 

The 4 jumped back to their spawn point, and the platform went back down. The score was in when they got their. It was not a crushing defeat, but nonetheless, a defeat. Losses never usually hurt this much, but being the first battle for their team, it was rough. Juni hng his head, as did Eve, and Chase was wondering what he could have done better. “Cheer up. We’re not going to win every match,” Tammi’s voice rung over their heads. They looked up and Tammi was standing there, a big smile etched into her face. “We might be the greatest agents Inkopolis has ever known, but we’re still only cephalopods. We’re not going to win everytime.”

“You’re right,” Chase noted, moving to stand beside her. Eve agreed, and Juni came up last. He wiped a stray tear on his face, and nodded. 

“Let’s go back and take a win for the team now!” Juni cheered, and they all joined him. While the team was still new, Chase felt they were ready to take on the world.


	5. Splatoween Special: Spooky Hats and Horror Movie Terrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Inkredible Power celebrates Splatoween with brand new pieces of gear and watching a scary movie, and it seems the team has much more to learn about each other.

Splatoween Special: Spooky Hats and Horror Film Terrors

 

“Yeah, great match everyone!” Evelyn called out to her teammates as they all landed back at the Spawn point. “What do you say? One more match or go to the square and chill out there for the rest of the fest?” She lifted the Hockey Mask from her face to look her teammates more directly. Her teammates chose that time to readjust their headgear too, and Evelyn laughed as Chase flinched, holding his Anglerfish Mask.

It was the night of Splatoween, and of course the team was out supporting their chosen team of Team Trick for the Splatfest. There was only around 15 more minutes on the clock before the Splatfest ended and the results would start being calculated, so the team was making the most out of the Splatfest. It was super fun with their new gear too.

The week before Splatoween they had received a package with 4 different Splatoween headgear pieces, so each teammate could use one. Evelyn had been so worried about possible arguments over who wears what, but it was surprisingly easy. In fact, the night still made her laugh.

 

_“How about let’s each roll a dice. The one with the highest number gets to pick first, and then it goes down from their?” Juni suggested as they looked through the box of headgear. The group was intending to go by gear ability at first, but some of them just didn’t make sense to run more than one of that, and all of them except for Evelyn ran special power up on their headgear. Also if they did it by gear ability she would have the Kyonshi hat, and she knew by the moment she looked at it it would not fit with the way her tentacles were._

_“I don’t see any harm in that,” Tammi replied, and she and Chase agreed. Eve looked at her best friend. His eyes were avoiding the Anglerfish Mask. The inkling boy had always had a horrible fear of Anglerfish, ever since watching a scary movie with his dad as a kid. He had nightmares about them for weeks after. She wondered how he would be able to handle constantly seeing his teammates in it, or worse, wearing it._

_“Okay,” Juni replied. He made his way other to their gaming shelf that had lots of board games and fun stuff to do. Brushing off the dust of the Inktzee* game, he opened the lid and pulled out some dice from the game. He brought them over and handed each teammate one. On the count of 3, each of them rolled._

_Chase got 6 so he got to pick first, Juni got 4 so he picked second, then Tammi got 2 and Evelyn got one. She prayed Chase wouldn’t betray her and take that Hockey mask for himself, but she had no idea what Juni and Tammi would take._

_To her complete surprise, Chase picked up the Anglerfish Mask and put it on his head. Evelyn stared at him in complete shock. He was choosing to be what he hated. “Why so shook?” Tammi asked, giving Evelyn a tiny smirk._

_“Uh, he-” she didn’t want to reveal one of her friends biggest secrets. But Chase stepped in._

_“I don’t particularly like Anglerfish, but I think wearing it would be better because then I wouldn’t have to constantly see it,” Chase told his teammates. “Don’t like” was definitely an understatement, but Evelyn couldn’t help feeling proud of her friend anyway. He turned to her and mouthed a “Thanks Eve.”_

_Juni chose next. His hands immediately went for Li’l Devil Horns. And he looked absolutely adorable in them. He let out a toothy grin, his dimples showing themselves off. “Daww, you’re so cute Juni!” Evelyn told him and he blushed a little bit, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck._

_“I loved them from the moment I saw them,” he told the group._

_Tammi chose next. She looked between the Hockey Mask and the Kyonshi Hat. Judging by what little bits of personality she got from the older inkling girl, these were probably the best two choices for her. Mysterious and Scary were two words that apparently were quite often used to describe her back in her solo days, and it made complete sense why one would call her that._

_Tammi reached for the Kyonshi had and went to place it on her head. And Evelyn jumped up with glee, quickly grabbing the Hockey Mask! “Yes!” The group laughed with her happiness, and they made their way the door with their new headgear pieces to go put in for what team they were going to be._

 

“I think we should just head down to the square. It’s starting to slow down, and it might take the entire 15 minutes to find a lobby since not many players are there now. It’s been a long Splatfest,” Tammi noted.

“Yeah,” Chase agreed. “I’m wiped.”

“Let’s go dance it off in the Square for a little while, and then maybe go back and watch a scary movie or something?” Juni suggested.

“Good idea!” Eve replied. The team made their way back down to the Square. There were still some cephalopods and jellyfish out there. Pearl and Marina were singing loud and proud for the last bit of Splatfest. Evelyn noticed Juni staring at them, his eyes wide but a bi smile on his face. That’s right, it was the Octolings first real Splatfest experience.

For the last bit of Splatfest, they danced till their heart's content. Well, she and Juni danced a lot. Chase was busy looking through the winners of the 10x and 100x battles. She laughed softly, seeing him over by the board and looking at the results. Many wins had gone to Treat this Splatfest, and knowing Chase he never liked losing a Splatfest. Those 3 fewer sea snails always bothered him.

“Alright, thank you all for coming out!” Pearl called out into the mic, her voice just a tad raspy.

“The Splatfest results will be posted in a couple hours! So go get some rest, and we’ll be back with you soon!” Marina added in, her voice equally strained.

“Poor girls, they’re going to be gargling tea and honey for a week. Probably already have been now that I think about it,” Junius noted.

“Tea and honey?” Chase asked, walking over to join them. “I thought cephalopods only drank tea with honey when they were sick?”

“Sick, or doing a lot of singing,” Juni replied. Chase looked like he was about to add more, but Junius had already dropped the discussion. Evelyn thought she knew quite a bit from her octoling friend, but when he did things like that it made her realize that there was so much she didn’t know about him.

The team made their way back to their tiny apartment. They all changed into some comfy pajamas and sat on the couch. Evelyn brought over her box of movies an pulled out the scary ones, and they decided on one about a haunted Wahoo World and it’s very creepy looking mascot. They slipped the disc in and turned on the movie.

Evelyn sat between Juni and Chase, and Tammi sat on the other side of Juni. It felt a little cramped, being a three cephalopod couch, but they made it work.

Chase grabbed onto Eve half way through the movie. The inkling boy didn’t usually watch them, but when he did he usually passed off this move as wanting to comfort her, when others asked. Of course it actually wasn’t, since horror movies didn’t scare her a bit. She laughed along at the jokes, and even got some questioning looks from Juni. As always, Tammi was silent.

On the screen, Wahoo World’s Mascot finally made his way to the main character. She was tied to a chair that was floating up into the sky with balloons. The mascot had floated up to her. He took out his knife, covered in the ink of the girl’s friends. With the grin of the mask, he popped each balloon. “No, NO!” the inkling girl screamed as the final one popped, sending the chair crashing down. The screen went black right before she hit the bottom, and the credits began to play. It was a short one, but definitely terrifying.

“I’m never looking at Wahoo World’s mascot the same way again,” Chase sat up, trying to shake she fear away from him.

“It wasn’t that bad, super predictable actually,” Evelyn rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but still creepy,” Juni cringed. “What did you think of it Tammi?” he looked over at his roommate. Evelyn was about to get up when she heard Juni again. “Tammi, Tammi what’s wrong?” Evelyn and Chase immediately looked over at the girl.

Sometime during the movie, the inkling girl had huddled herself back into the couch. She stared at the rolling credits, wide and teary eyed. When Juni reached out to touch her arm, she pressed away from him, clearly frightened. Her eyes took a second to register it was him, and her expression softened just slightly. “Oh, sorry. It- It was good,” she stumbled over her words, and her shaking gave off how she really felt. She was honestly terrified, and Evelyn felt superbad. It was her movie.

“Tammi, oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” Evelyn leaned forward, but Tammi still didn’t want any contact. Within seconds, she was squidforming and leaping over the backside of the couch. Evelyn was about to follow her when he felt Juni’s hand over hers.

“It’s okay, this is my fault,” he told her, before going into his octo form and going under the couch as well. Evelyn wanted so desperately to apologize over and over, but Chase lead her away. The two made their way to their room, but kept the door partially open.

“She looked so scared,” Eve felt tears coming to her eyes, and she tried to wipe them away. Chase put his hand over hers. “Why didn’t she tell us she didn’t like scary movies?”

“It’s okay, Eve, you didn’t know. You know Tammi, she’s stubborn and proud. She would never admit to something like that. Or maybe she just didn’t know?” Chase suggested. Eve wiped off her face, nodding.

The two talked very softly while munching on some Splatoween candy, both still worried for their friend. They both lit up when Juni appeared from the frontside of the couch. He kneeled by it, and Evelyn just barely noticed Tammi come into view, before she also went back into kid form. Juni held her against himself, an arm tucked around her lower torso, just around the small of her back.

Eve stood up, and Chase followed shortly after. “Tammi, I’m so sorry,” Eve told her friend. Tammi looked up. She still looked a little panicked, but her voice was steadier than it was before.

“It’s okay Evelyn, it’s not your fault. I should have told you, all of you, that I’m not the best with scary things,” she told them. There was a tint of some other emotion in her voice, but Evelyn couldn’t pick it out. Judging by Chase’s expression, he noticed it and thought the same thing. “Thanks for a fun Splatoween everyone,” she let off a small smile. “I’m gonna get some sleep.”

“Yeah thanks everyone. Goodnight,” Chase added in, and Evelyn nodded along. The two watched as Juni lead Tammi back to their room. It was funny. Evelyn knew the two were close, but she hadn’t seen it till now. Evelyn shook her head of the thoughts, and she and Chase also went to bed.

That night, Evelyn sat up in bed, looking out the window at Inkopolis Square down below. Despite Splatfest already ended, Inklings and Octolings all around were still jamming it up. Evelyn gave off a smile, then texted her girlfriend goodnight, and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very much for reading, really appreciate it. I love doing Halloween specials, and I don't have any other works to do them with right now so I thought I would do this.


	6. First Match: Rivals Team Inkredible Power vs. Team Fried Tentacles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time! The first rival match between Tammi's Team of Inkredible Power, and Logan's Team of Fried Tentacles!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone who is following this for waiting quite a while on this one. School really picked up for me and I had a lot of stuff o for it. I wanted to get this done earlier, but it just got too busy. But it's here now, and you should expect another part soon.

First Match: Rivals Team Inkredible Power vs. Team Fried Tentacles

 

Tammi sat up in her bed, laptop in front of her and headphones in her ears. She watched the screen intently. On it was a taped andspectated Rainmaker match. Team Mawvelous versus Team Flashing In. The two most famous teams of Inopolis went head to head in Inkopolis Square before it had opened up to the public, as a way of presenting it. The two teams had been rivals for years and years.

When Tammi was a little squid, she had so much merch from Team Flashing Ink. She was their biggest fan. Well, it also helped that her parents were members of their team. Of course as she got older, she strived to look into more teams to see different playstyles.

As she started to really get used to Turf Wars and Ranked matches in Solos, she thought about what it would be like to have a team. She feared that her team would be thought of as the Young Flashing In, because her mother was the captain, and her father was their amazing sniper. Other inklings even recognized her in Inkopolis Tower as their daughter, so she tried to remain soft spoken, to avoid getting the attention.

But now she had a team of her own, and she wondered if they got big, would she be recognized more again. After falling off the face of the ocean for a while, she had found no one recognized her while she was here in the Square. But if they got big, someone could notice. Her team could be called the Young Flashing Ink. Would her team really get as big? And would she and Logan’s Teams really be like Mawvelous and Flashing Ink?

“Morning Tammi,” a voice broke her from her thoughts and she looked over at Juni, who was sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, just thinking of team strategies,” she replied, taking an earbud out so she could hear him a little clearer. He laughed in response.

“You? Preparing team strategies beforehand? Tammi, you’re a bad liar. You never do that,” he noted, getting out of bed and walking over to her. “Oh, you’re watching a match.”

“Yeah, just studying their play style,” Tammi nodded. “You get ready, I’m going to go wake the others up, the match starts in about an hour.” 

 

“Well, well, well, It looks like we will be having a match today girls,” a sneer intruded Tammi’s ears as she and her team finished checking into the lobby at Inkopolis Square. Tammi whipped around to see Logan walked up to her, his team trailing behind him. “I’m surprised you guys actually showed up,” he smirked.

“You know me, I never back out of a challenge, especially the ones I start,” Tammi replied, holding her head up high. “This is my team, by the way,” she gestured to their teammates, and they took a moment before Chase finally spoke up.

“I’m Chase,” Chase introduced himself.

“Hi, my name’s Evelyn,” Eve went after him, a little more quiet than usual.

“Junius,” was all Juni replied with, nearly monotone. Tammi knew that tone anywhere from the octoling. He didn’t like Logan one bit. 

“Wow, you guys really make an interesting team,” Logan noted, folding his arms over his chest. These are my ladies over here that form the supportive back bone over my reign. I admittedly couldn’t do this without them.”

“My name’s Heather! Hi!” a younger octoling jumped up first, introducing herself.

“The name’s Audrey,” an inkling girl gave a small smile.

“It’s Colleen,” a smaller inkling girl, even shorter than Evelyn, with chopped tentacles spoke softly. Tammi immediately recognized her her as the sniper she had met by Logan’s side before. 

“Nice to meet you all,” Tammi replied, giving a small smile to them. “We have to go grab our room key, so we’ll meet you guys in the lobby.” 

“See ya there, Princess,” Logan replied before taking his team away and to the private lobbies, leaving Tammi annoyed over her nickname.

“I don’t like that guy at all,” Eve spat after Logan had walked away.

“Yeah. Didn’t you say you guys were friends before? How could you tolerate him?” Chase asked.

“We just had a lot in common,” Tammi replied, remembering back in the day where she and Logan first met. Images of the two of them sitting and watching the construction work on Urchin Underpass flashed through her mind. Back then they were so close. He was the only one who understood her then. 

They grabbed the key to the private room and the keys for the lockers in the private rooms and once they were there took their weapons out of their cases and put the cases and personal belongings away. Once entering the private lobby, Tammi could see Logan discussing the strategies with his teammates, his Gold Dynamo Roller leaning up against the wall, next to Colleen’s Splat Charger. Audrey was holding a Forge Splattershot Pro, and Heather had a pair of Dapple Dualies Nouveau. Their comp was very paint heavy, besides the Splat Charger, but also extremely powerful. This was going to be a tough match.

“So did you think of any strategies earlier?” Juni asked her.

“Actually, I did,” Tammi nodded, and Chase and Eve looked shocked at her.

“We are going against a well seasoned team. Honestly, I don’t know how we are going to fare against them. So try your best. When you take confrontations when they have control, take them with a partner. Keep up paint control, they can’t push the objective or maneuver as easily without it!” Tammi explained, and then they all nodded. 

“Stages are ready!” an announcement beamed over the intercom, and the two teams looked up at the board. It started with Splat Zones on Manta Maria, Tower Control on Port Mackerel, Rainmaker on Mako Mart, Clam Blitz on The Reef, and Turf War on Kelp Dome. 

“Manta Maria has two zones, and the main field of battle is pretty small, so remember to keep control over those side areas,” Chase noted.

“And we gotta keep that top area or that sniper is going to have a field day,” Eve reminded them.

“I think we’re ready guys,” Tammi smiled, and they went out to the platform. Tammi met Logan’s eyes and they each gave each other a nod before the platforms rose, sending them out onto their first challenge. 

The match started, she and Juni went straight forward, while Eve and Chase went off to each side. Tammi made it up to her high platform and got an easy splat on Logan as he was outstretched to fling a bunch of ink on to the zone that he was on. The splat resulted on their team to get enough paint to control the zone. Good start. “Got the Dynamo!” she called.

“Trade with Dapples,” Chase called out over the com, and his voice was quickly followed by Eve’s as Juni jumped down to take the other one. 

“Damn, sniper got me while I was contesting with the Forge Pro,” Eve called out. Tammi noticed the sniper’s lazer by Juni when he was making away across to take care of the Forge. She threw out a wall in front of him.

“Juni, sniper!” he froze behind the wall, and without the wall for herself, the sniper flicked up while Tammi was in an open position, quickly sniping through her with an excellent flick. “Damn, good sniper.”

With Juni the only one out on the field, and Logan already on the field again, they quickly lost their control to the other team. “Damn, both Forge and Dynamo on me,” Juni called. Damn, a full wipe. Chase should be making it back to the field soon though. 

“Dang, Forge got me, Chase called. 

“Trade with Forge!” Eve called shortly after. 

They just couldn’t get back on the field, and Team Fried Tentacles quickly took the first win. 

 

The tower control match went much better, though it didn't end in a win. They managed to prevent them from getting the knockout. Tammi had a feeling this was about to turn around.  

 

Rainmaker on Mako Mart. “Alright guys, remember to focus on getting the picks after we pop the rainmaker shield before picking it up. Juni, you’re the fastest, I want you on that Rainmaker. Chase your back up in case Juni is busy,” Tammi told her teammates as the platform rose up. 

“Let’s do this!” Eve smiled. 

They pushed forward, the combination of her and Eve’s firing on the rainmaker shield destroying it quickly. “Dapples down!” Eve called out, the shield having gotten them in the process.

“Got the Dynamo!” Juni called out. 

“Got the flank on the sniper. We got three down!” Chase called out.

“Okay guys three down, it’s just the Forge, grab the rainmaker!” Tammi called out. She heard inking around her. The forge had been hiding! A flank. She quickly swung around, charging a shot and getting her before she had a chance to shoot. “Team wipe!” she smiled, and swam up ahead to get some bubbles out for their push of the rainmaker. She pushed the bubbles out in front of Juni who was holding the rainmaker, popping them and claiming both the Dynamo and the Dapples, The ran to the respawn point to distract the sniper.

The sniper got her, but juni managed to swim up the finish pot, rainmaker in hands. A quick win! 

“Wow! Great job everyone!” Juni called out as they jumped bac and were went down, preparing for the next match. That was such a quick win!

“Yeah, we did awesome!” Chase cheered, they were all bubbling with excitement. Even Tammi felt a thrill through her heart.

 

Clam Blitz on The Reef went great as well. They took an early lead, and managed to hold it throughout the rest of the game. They made it to the final match, Turf War on Kelp Dome. 

“Turf War is here guys. Just remember to keep up your turf control. Chase and Eve, you need to keep up with our little bits of slack on that, since we don’t paint as well,” Tammi reminded her teammates. “That being said, we have done absolutely excellent throughout this, especially the last 3 games. No matter what happens, I am so proud of you guys!”

“I really think we found a team that works. We are really strong together!” Chase nodded, his eyes gleaming, and he and Evelyn nodded to each other.

“This has been so much fun too. I’m so happy I’ve had the opportunity to join you guys!” they had a group chant as the platform rose, landing them into Wahoo World.

“Minimal base coverage for now, we’ll get it at respawn, get to the middle!” Tammi called out. Chase and Eve took the sides while Juni and Eve went up to take control of the middle. Tammi threw a wall out when she noticed the Forge Pro o the ground, but she was sniped from behind by the Charger. “Taken out by charger.

“Got her!” Chase called out, getting the double tap on the charger who was standing on the grates, and he turfed around on the ground. “Trade with Forge!” They were two down, and her team was only one, a good start. Her thoughts were shut down when she heard Juni though.

“Dang, Dynamo on middle platform, got me!” Chase called out. “Juni too!” Dang with her on respawn, and Eve the only one out there, they would get an early lead. 

Tammi went forward, catching the Dynamo as he was aiming to flick over the wall into their base area. She fired her shots into him, and threw out a wall to the side before the Charger could get her. She dodged the charger’s shots, moving forward quickly and getting in the range to trade with her. “Got the Dynamo, trade with splat charger!”

“Got the Dapples sharking in our base!” Juni called out. Good, now they were in a 3 down situation.

“Trade with Forge!” Eve added in. Full wipe, this was their time. They quickly took paint control to the max, gaining as much as they could, she stood on the middle platform with her wall in front of her, helping Juni push down the splat charger, when a she felt the Dynamo roller crash down on her. 

“Dynamo on my X, middle plat!” she called out. The Dynamo quickly got Chase who tried to avenge her. Dang, the Dynamo was too strong in that position. 

The last 10 seconds hit as she was on the respawn, quickly trying to paint as much as she could while moving. The timer buzzed, and they all jumped back.

“Team Fried Tentacles wins!” and with that, their first scrim was done, lost to a very strong team. 

“It’s okay guys, we all did amazing!” she told her team as the platform went down. “We got 2 wins out of 5 games! We didn’t let them beat us after just 3 matches!” she tried to reassure them. 

“Yeah, we did do well!” Juni noted. Chase and Eve looked up, the disappointment in themselves washing away, and Tammi quickly felt arms loop around her as Eve glomped her in a hug. Her eyes widened in surprise, as Chase and Juni joined them. This is what it felt like to have a team. And it felt better than anything imaginable.

“Great job out there!” they came apart, hearing a voice, and Tammi looked up. Logan stood there, with his team, a smile on his face. 

“You guys did really well out there!”  Heather cheered. 

“That was a lot tougher of a win than we expected it to be!” Aubrey agreed. Colleen nodded her head.

“Thanks, you guys did really well too. You’re tough opponents,” Tammi noted. 

“You mean rivals,” Logan smirked. Tammi looked at him, confusion written on her face. “I think it’s time we embrace some of the heritage we are born with. It’s only right that the children of some of the greatest players around become full rivals,” he noted. 

Tammi looked down, deep in thought, then went back up to smile at him. “And let’s not just be like them,” she told him. “Let’s be better! And show the world that Team Inkredible Power and Team Fried Tentacles are even stronger than Team Flashing Ink and Team Mawvelous!”


	7. Holiday Special: A Splatmas Celebration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the holidays, and of course this team made of agents has to spend some time together!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you enjoy this short, Christmas inspired, special chapter!

A Splatmas Celebration

 

Junius walked down the path, grocery bags in hand. Eve walking next to him: she was bundled up nice and warm, and her puffy jacket made noises as it rubbed against her sides. “Aren’t you cold Junius? It’s freezing out here,” she shivered.

“No, not really. I’m pretty comfortable actually. Octolings tend to generate a lot more heat to adapt to colder weather a little better. Octo City is a lot colder than Inkopolis, since it’s a lot colder underground,” Junius explained. 

“That’s so interesting!” Eve beamed, looking up at him, the items in her bags rustling as the jumped a little, and they continued to make their way back to their apartment. 

The two of them had been shopping for some food for a good Splatmas dinner and dessert. They had decided to all celebrate an early Splatmas together before going to their own homes for Splatmas. Tammi and Chase were decorating while the two of them were shopping.

He felt something cold hit his head, and he looked up, as he saw a white flake fall and hit his face, and he shook his head. “Uh, what is this?”

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know it would snow today!” Eve exclaimed.

“Snow?” he asked, holding out his hand and catching some in his hand and examining it. 

“You’ve never seen snow? I mean living underground…. I can’t believe you’ve never seen snow! When it’s cold outside and dark clouds appear it snows. I hadn’t even noticed these dark clouds roll in,” Eve dropped her bags, twirling around as the snow fell around her. 

“It looks like it’s picking up a bit,” he noted, as a wind brushed past them, and the nsow fell faster. 

“Yeah,” Eve agreed, moving to pick up her bags once more. “We should get back. We’re not properly clothed for this weather.”

Junius nodded his reply and they made their way back, walking a little faster, the snow luckily not blowing in their faces. “Does Inkopolis get snow often?” he asked. 

“Very rarely actually. Inkopolis doesn’t get a lot of rain, and cold months don’t last very long. This is probably the first time that I’ve seen that it’s snowed around the time of Splatmas,” Eve explained as they walked up the steps up to the apartment building. They made their way in and up, and Eve pushed through the door.

“Chase! It’s snowing outside!” she called. Chase and Tammi were hanging lights around their big window. 

“Yeah, just had a snow warning pop up on my shellphone,” Chase showed her the message. “Should be on and off like this till tonight it looks like. Let’s get our Splatmas dinner and cookies done early in case the power goes out.”

“Sounds good. I’ll start with the cookies right away!” Eve bounced over into the kitchen, taking some of the bags from Junius and plopping them on the counter. “Junius, think you can help me mix the ingredients. I need a strong arm, and Chase is always too gentle with it,” Eve smirked at Chase.

“I can’t help it,” Chase groaned. “I broke the bowl that one time…”

“That’s why I use a plastic bowl now,” Eve laughed, cracking the eggs and putting them in the bowl, along with the other ingredients she had already added. “Alright, think you can mix that up for me?” Eve asked Junius, handing the bowl to him. 

Junius started whipping at the batter, quickly mixing it thoroughly. Eve added the chocolate chips in and took a small scoop up to try. “Hmm, I’m not sure if that tastes right,” she hummed.

“Here, let me give it a taste,” Tammi plugged in the lights around the window and walked over scooping up a small bit of the cookie dough and licking it off her fingers. “Add just a pinch of cinammon, it really completes the taste,” she advised.

“That’s it! Good idea!” Eve pulled some cinnamon out of the bag and pouring a teaspoon of cinnamon and mixing it with the dough. The 4 worked together, cutting out different shapes with the cookie cutters. Their were ornament shapes, tree shapes, and of course inkling and octoling shapes. 

That night, they sat on the couch, eating the splatmastmas cookies they had made and watching a Splatmas special on the TV, the normal lights off and the light from the windows and outside pouring in. 

“This was my favorite Splatmas special as a kid,” Tammi noted as they got to a commercial. It was a story about 3 inkling siblings who were homeless and poor and wanted to help their little sister, so needed to make it to this star that would grant them  a wish. 

“I enjoyed this one as well,” Junius told her as he sat back with a glass of milk in his hands. “Watched it a lot as a little octoling,” he replied.

“What channel were you guys watching?” Chase asked.

“Yeah I never saw this show before,” Eve added in.

“It’s an older one. I only happened to know it because my parents watched it a lot. They always loved cartoons,” Tammi told them.

“And my older sister was also very fond of this Splatmas special,” Junius added.

“You have an older sister?” Eve asked him and Chase raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah. I have an older sister who’s 19, a younger sister who’s nearly 14, and a younger brother and sister who are both 9,” Juni told them. 

“Wow, you have such a big family!” Eve exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess it was never relevant before,” he just shrugged his shoulders, and they continued to watch the snow.

Just as the program hit a song point, the TV shut off, along with all the lights in the room, and outside. “Power outage,” Tammi noted, looking around outside. “It’s snowing pretty hard out there. Big storm.”

“Hmm, I never like power outages, they make everything feel so quiet and dark,” Eve shuddered, cuddling into her blankets on the couch. 

Chase got up. “I’ll go grab some more blankets for all of us,” he went back into his and Eve’s room, grabbing some blankets for them in Eve’s closet. Junius walked in on his side too. He kneeled down, pulling out a large case from under the bed. He told them when they had moved in it would be able to hold all his weapons if he chose to get more, but really it held his guitar, he brought it out.

“What do you have the weapon case for?” Tammi asked him, eyebrow raised.

“Well, I kinda lied. The truth is, I play guitar, and even sing a little. This is actually my guitar case,” Junius explained. In the cephalopod world, but especially in the world of octarians, that male inklings and octolings were not usually seen as ones who who went into performance entertainment. Their voices were seen as inferior to that of a female voice. So when he told others, he was always shamed upon. 

But he didn’t like seeing Eve so scared, and his other teammates nervous. If listening to Splatmas music helped them, then he was going to play it.

“Really? That’s awesome!” Chase exclaimed. Eve beamed along, her face in a wide grin.

“I had no idea you had that kind of talent,” Tammi let off a rare smile at him, and at that moment, he felt the courage he needed. He opened up the guitar case, and tuned it quickly, before sitting on the couch.

“Alright, what first?” he asked them.

“Anything,” they all agreed.

Junius laughed, and thought of his little siblings, listening to him play “Oh Splatmas Tree” as he sang along. He strummed a few chords, and then started the song. And with the bright smiles on his friends faces, and sparkling in their eyes, he played and sang till their hearts content.


	8. We Needed the Money - Inkredible Power: Salmon Run Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inkredible Power, the team made up of the four agents of New Squidbeak Splatoon, find that they can't afford rent this month. So they go and take their first shift at Grizzco.

 

We Needed The Money - Inkredible Power, Salmon Run Edition

Chase scrolled through the email, his eyes wide as he did the calculations again. They did not have the funds to pay for this month’s rent. He groaned. This was not not the news the team needed. After their recent set of losses, they did not want to deal with this.

What’s up Chase?” Juni’s deeper voice alerted him and he looked up. He forgot Octolings always got up early in the morning. The older cephalopod grabbed Chase’s mug and poured him some more coffee, as well as pouring himself some. He brought the mugs back as well as some sweeteners. 

“Thanks man,” Chase mixed some sugar in as Juni dumped 3 things of hazelnut sweetener and a packet of sugar into his mug. Damn that was enough to kill someone. “Just don’t know how we are going to pay this month’s rent.”

“Oh,” Juni looked over. “That’s not good.” He pulled out his shellphone, looking through his newsfeed. “Let’s see if there is a way we can make some money quick.”

“Here’s hoping,” Chase noted.

“Hmm,” Juni scrolled through his phone for a bit. “Hey, some cephalopods are mentioning a company called Grizco! Looks like it’s good money if you can take the heat.”

Chase whipped his head up, remembering the day he and Eve stumbled upon the Grizco office. The money was amazing, but it had probably taken years off of their lives. It was nothing but pure stress.

“Y’all right?” Juni’s voice dragged him out of his memory. 

“Yeah I’m fine,” Chase nodded. “It’s an option for sure. But it’s a very difficult job,” he warned the older.

“Well if we need the money, I think it’s worth it,” Juni turned back to his phone. “It looks like they are open today for another shift. 10am it looks like. I think we should go check it out today after the ladies are up.”

Chase hestated, but agreed.

 

The team walked up to the doors of Grizco, tired already from having to spent the whole morning checking out the pamphlet on what to do while taking a job in Salmon Run. Mr. Grizz had emailed them back quickly saying he was glad to get a set of teammates and was quick to send them a manuel. The team spent the whole morning reading. Juni and Tammi now seemed relatively comfortable with how to splat each Salmonid boss. Chase just hoped the four of them could get through a shift.

“Glad you could make it. You’re gear is over in the locker rooms behind that door over to the left. Get changed and meet me over at the platform!” Mr. Grizz instructed them as they entered.

The group walked out and changed into the gear that was supplied to them and walked out. “We’re ready Mr. Grizz!” Eve called out.

“Alright, it’s a randomized weapon set today, so I’ll send up new weapons at the end of each round. Good luck on your first shift!” he told them and the platform started moving upward, creaking as it did so.

“Wait! Don’t we have a tutorial first?!” Chase shouted back.

“It’s fine, you guys got this!” Mr. Grizz’s voice sounded in the intercom. 

“We can do this,” Tammi looked at him. “We’re a team. We’ll have each others back.” She advised them, and the team agreed with her. They were given their weapons. Tammi got a Rapid Blaster Pro, Eve had a Flingza Roller, Junius had a standard Splattershot, and Chase himself had a Grizzco Brella.

They looked around at the more recent stage for Salmon Run, Ruins of Ark Polaris. Man this place was absolutely fascinating.

“Over there!” Juni called over the com as a bunch of chum and a Steel Eel emerged from the lower levels. The team moved forward, Chase hesitant, panicking as he got closer to the Eel.

Another boss emerged, but Chase was distracted from the incoming Eel that Tammi and Juni were moving to splat. Frozen in fear, Chase didn’t notice that he was locked on with missiles. “Chase!” Eve called out to him and her body pummeled into his, pushing him out of the way as the missiles hit the ground, splatting Eve in the process. The eel was now gone, thanks to Tammi and Juni who were bringing the golden eggs back. 

“Thanks Eve, sorry about that,” he picked her up when her life buoy emerged from the ink.

“No time for daydreaming, let’s get this Fly Fish!” and he nodded. The two of them swam up, splat bombs ready, quickly taking out the annoying missile shooting salmonid. “They took care of the eggs, bringing them up to the basket. Good 5 in, only 8 more to go. 

3 stingers rolled up and they made quick on splatting them and bringing the eggs back up. He and Juni were splatting through a bunch of chum in order to get to a rail and bring their golden eggs back. In their fight, they ran out of ink and got caught on a large spot of green salmonid ink.

“Damn, that’s sticky!” Juni tried to pull himself out, continuously aiming at the ground and trying to get some ink on the ground below their feet, but being trapped in ink he could just not recover any ink.

A red flag bobbed on the surface of the ink and the two were suddenly surrounded by a maw circle, unable to escape as they were being pulled in.

Tammi jumped in, her legs kicked out, holding the maw’s mouth open and pulling Chase and Juni out quickly, chucking a bomb into the Maw’s mouth and only barely making it out herself. “Go!” she called to them, taking care of a second maw. 

“Thanks Tammi!” Juni pulled Chase up and they got onto the rail.

“How did she do that?” Chase wondered aloud.

“There’s a creature called the Mini Octomaw in the Deep Sea. We ran into some in a mission. She’s become an expert on how to defeat them easily,” Juni explained. Chase looked at him wide-eyed. How could he have forgotten that Juni and Tammi had spent so much time in the deep sea. They might have fought many foes that could have been similar to the salmonid that they fought now.

They got the last eggs into the basket, and Tammi quickly got in one more, 16/13, a good start.

They jumped back to the platforms, with new weapons. Chase now had a .52 Gal, Juni had a Splatterscope, Eve had a Sloshing Machine, and Tammi had an Octobrush. 

Fog filled the stage. Damn this was going to make this round a lot harder.

They got to work as a drizzler jumped up onto a tall pole out near the water. Eve quickly knocked it’s cloud back at it and they went down to get the eggs. 2 steel heads showed up and Juni stayed down there to splat them with his sniper. They used the rail to return their eggs and jumped down to grab more. Tammi got behind a scrapped while he distracted it. They worked together to splat it and he and Eve used bombs to get another Flyfish.

Low on ink, and the rail being blocked by cohocks, he and Eve went up the walls and got a goldie up on top, spawning 10 golden eggs. He worked on putting the golden eggs into the basket, while Eve went down to go get the ones on the ground and help out.

Tammi lead a maw up near the basket, waiting for it to emerge from the ink. She got it, but Chase saw the Steel Eel that was locked onto her first. 

“Watch out!” Chase quickly pushed her out of the way, the eel now aimed at him. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the splat but that didn’t come. He opened his eyes back up to see the Eel dissipating into eggs and golden eggs. Juni had followed it and and splatted it, saving them both. 

“Thanks Chase, thanks Juni!” Tammi nodded, smiling as they got the eggs into the basket, then she jumped down to help Eve who was surrounded by cohocks and the two of them worked together to splat them all. 

The round finished, 23/14, another awesome round for them.

The third round started and the sky went dark, fireflies surrounding Juni. Oh no, Salmon Rush.

Eve had a Clash Blaster, Juni had a .96 Gal, Chase had a splat roller, and Tammi had a Squiffer. They could do this, they just had to be accurate and safe.

The Salmon rushed at them, and Chase started mowing them down with his rollar, Eve taking care of any stragglers and Tammi sniping the Goldie as it came up. Juni went and got the eggs as they worked on the next set. They stayed close to eachother, and didn't bother to go too far down if the eggs were too far down.

Chase ran out of ink and got ran over, but was quickly picked up by Eve with her wide range that the Clash had. They worked together, Splatting the Samonid and trying to keep each other out of danger. 

The Salmonid were moving faster, and Chase worked to continue rolling them over. Tammi had pulled out her sting ray and was also getting some some Splats. 

One went out of it’s way, trying to rush at Eve who was the current target, and she got knocked, down to where the Salmonid were coming from on the lower floor. “Eve!” Chase shouted.

“I got her!” Juni called out, and he dove over the edge, quickly catching Eve and pulling out his Inkjet. He held her as he fired the inkjet at the Goldie, and let her go when he jumped back to his spot. Chase let out a sigh of relief before putting all his attention back on the Salmon Rush.

They made it out with only his earlier casualty, and 28/16 Golden eggs, 12 over what they needed like the last time! “We did it!” Eve shouted. “We made it through!”

The team celebrated, dancing and flopping around the stage, before they were called back to the boat.

 

The four of them finished picking up their earnings at the booth in front of the Grizzco Office, all with bright smiles on their faces. They now had more than enough to make rent, and plenty more to use on food, or whatever they wanted. “That was a lot of fun!” Juni laughed as they made their way back.

“Yeah, it was intense, but a great time!” Eve agreed.

“It was very helpful on learning about our team strategy too, and a great way to make money,” Tammi nodded.

Chase hesitated, and looking back on this experience, he realized he loved it just as much as his teammates did. He gave them all a wide grin, “I think we should do that again, sometime soon.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry it's been a little while. School and my main works have kept me super busy so I haven't been spending a lot of time on this more for fun project. I hope you enjoyed.


	9. Enter the Match: Weapon Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team enters a small Turf War competition, where they have to play with new weapons.

Enter the Match: Weapon Switch

 

Evelyn bolted up the stairs, nearly tripping on several steps. The paper in her hand blowed in the wind she created with her shear speed. She raced down the hall and burst through the front door of their apartment! “Guys! There’s some big surprise event in the Square tomorrow!” she shouted out to her team. 

Tammi looked up from her spot on the couch, surprised to see her teammate come in like that. “An event? What kind of event?” She set her laptop down to the side, sitting up as Evelyn handed her the piece of paper. 

Chase walked out of his side of the room, having been at his desk doing his usual research. Juni had been in his side of the room, reading, when she had walked out. They all met out in the front room, as Tammi read over the paper.

“Come join our Turf Wars with a Twist Event, Week 1: Weapon Trade. You will be paired up against 1 Team, and will participate in 3 Turf War matches against them. The Team to get at least ⅔ wins, will be given a chance to buy a new weapon at a great discount. Each week, there will be a new theme, the “twist” of the turf war. For this first week, you will trade weapons with the members of the team you are paired up against. You will have no idea what their weapons are till you meet them, and will only have a few minutes to choose who will be swapping weapons. You can sign up online.” Tammi read out the contents of the poster to the group. “You know, it’s not a bad idea,” she noted.

“It does seem like a lot of fun,” Juni agreed.

“But we have no idea what weapons we will be picking up,” Chase pointed out.

“I think we should try it! It would be a really great idea! Plus if we won, we could have some new weapons to choose from. This would help us because we could have new playstyles to learn, which will help us in combat,” Evelyn explained.

“That’s exactly right,” Tammi smiled. ‘Took the words out of my mouth.”

“That would be really great for us as a team,” Chase admitted.

“I don’t know why we are still debating on this,” Juni laughed. “Let’s get signed up. And even if we don’t win, it’s still a great experience!” 

They all agreed, and signed up for the match. 

 

“So, are you ready for you’re matches today?” Phoebe asked Evelyn, as they walked out of the Fitness shop. Phoebe needed to buy a new pair of leggings for when she was participating in matches, as her others had worn out. 

“Of course! I think this match will be really good for us,” Evelyn replied. “Truthfully, I think we need it more than anything,” she nodded, looking down a bit. 

“I think trying out a new team composition will be a really good for your team. It might help you figure out the issues you have been having, when dealing with certain weapons, and it might help you see different ways that you can handle your own weapons, or recognize the types of situations your weapons don’t do the best in. Facing your own weapons will be a learning experience,” Phoebe explained, taking her girlfriend’s hand in her own. “You got this, Eve,” she smiled. 

Evelyn agreed, leaning over and giving the other squid a peck on the cheek, and giving he a toothy grin after. Yes, this was a great decision.

The Salmon Run session had helped them work a lot on their teamwork skills, which did help them in their battles a bit, but there was still something her team was missing. They were losing situations and had no idea why, and they would never really consider how to handle certain weapons. Playing with different weapons would surely help them see some of this stuff. And having a discount on buying a new weapon was a great idea for the team, so they could switch things up a bit. 

The two squids walked out of the mall, hand in hand, and made their way over to Inkopolis Square, where Evelyn would be meeting up with her teammates for the matches.

They walked up to the entrance of Inkopolis Tower, and shared a quick kiss. “Alright, I’m going to go kick some butt in Ranked,” Phoebe smiled. “I’ll tell you how that goes later.”

“I can’t wait to hear about it. Crush ‘em Sweetie,” Evelyn pumped her first, cheering her on. Phoebe nodded, and leaned in, and the two shared a quick kiss, before Evelyn waved Phoebe off. 

“Aww I ship it so hard!” Tammi’s voice interrupted Evelyn’s thoughts, and she turned around to see the rest of her teammates. 

“Well, the ship has sailed,” Juni noted. 

“It’s canon,” Chase added in. Evelyn rolled her eyes at her teammate’s sweet teasing, and laughed along with them, and they all checked in and made their way over to the private lobbies. 

They made it to their room, where the opposing team was there to meet them. They were paired up against Team Painted Warfare, a team that had been formed around the same time theirs was. They would hopefully be on similar levels. A male Octoling with a headband over his afro walked up to them. “Team Inkredible Power?”

“That’s us,” Tammi smiled. “The name’s Tammi, I’m the Captain of this team. I am assuming you’re the captain of Team Painted Warfare?” 

“That is correct, the name’s Kyle,” he called his team over. “I think we should go ahead and present our weapons.” Each player pulled their weapon out of their weapon case, and Evelyn felt her excitement rise. What kind of comp would her team be playing with? 

The weapons were presented, and Evelyn looked at the weapons. Right away she found herself grinning, seeing the Octoling girl on the team holding a pair of Dapple Duelies. The two made eye contact, and shared a smile, already knowing they would be trading with each other. The leader had a Forge Splattershot Pro, a very powerful long range weapon. Then there was an inkling boy holding a Custom Blaster, and another one holding a Kensa Splatterscope. An interesting set of weapons indeed. 

“I think it would be best if the Duelies trade,” Evelyn was the first to point out. The octoling girl nodded to her team leader. They made the trade. The Dapples were much lighter than her Gloogas, and definitely had a shorter range of fire than she would be used to. But, they did have a faster rate of fire, so as long as she made sure to take her fights at close range, she should have the advantage. 

“Sloshing Machine sounds really fun,” the inkling boy holding the Custom Blaster noted, “It’s somewhat similar to how a Blaster works.”

“I wouldn’t mind picking up a Blaster,” Juni agreed, and the two boys made a switch. 

“I was testing out the Cherry H-3 Nozzlenose in the Testing Arena the other day, so I would like to try out another Nozzlenose on the Battlefield,” the team leader noted.

“The L-3 and the H-3 are a lot different, but I’m down for a Forge Pro,” Chase warned, and those two switched. That finally left Tammi and the other Inkling Boy switching up their backline. Evelyn watched as Tammi held the Splatterscope in her hands, examining the weapon. She could just barely make out the older squid’s lips curling upward. The former sniper main had not picked up a charger on the battlefield in a longtime, but this was bound to be exciting. 

 

“Good try everyone! We got one more match, so let’s make this one count!” Tammi told her Teammates as they waited to be brought up onto the stage. It was the last match, and the teams were tied 1-1. The first match had been a crushing victory on their side, and the second game was a crushing defeat. 

“Let’s fight are hardest, I’m looking for a great match!” Chase called out. 

“Let’s do this!” Evelyn cheered, and they were brought up to the stage. Turf War on Piranha Pit. The stage was a big one, giving them a lot of area that they had to cover. Luckily for Evelyn, there was a lot of great Beakon spots for her to put down the jump points. She would definitely have to be careful on this map though, being surrounded by water. She could very easily roll off the stage if she wasn’t too careful. It also was a lot more favorable to mid and long range weapons, which the opposing team was full of. 

The match started, and she was on her way out. She went to the left, covering the turf on the lower area right out near the water. She stuck a Beakon down in the corner under the conveyor belt, and the grated platform. “On me!” Juni called out through the headset, and she could hear him above her, along with the familiar sound of the baller. 

“Fall down here!” she spoke through the headset swimming up as she heard the ball explode, and doing a sneak attack on the Gloogas. “Gloogas down,” she notified her teammates. 

Juni came back up to join her, and the two swam out together. She painted around the Sloshing Machine, dodging his shots and letting Juni pick up the kill. “Machine down.”

Tammi was quick to follow up. “Got the Heavy.” Evelyn looked around, seeing that Tammi was on the floor next to the conveyor belt. Her leader was completely comfortable with the sniper back in her hands. In fact, the squid was laughing, which is not something she did all that often. 

“Got the L-3,” Chase added in over the headset. They had got a staggered wipe on the team, leaving their team a lot of time to paint. Just as she thought it was all good though, she was quickly taken out by a surprise attack from the Machine. 

“Machine on me!” she called out. Tammi picked up the kill, and tried to get the Gloogas, but the wall was put out and she was taken out by the Gloogas. 

“Heavy on me!” Chase was also down. Evelyn needed to get back out there. Once she respawned she swam out, jumping from the conveyer belt and taking out the L-3 who was jumping to the Gloogas. The Gloogas tried to engage her, but Chase quickly took out the Octoling.

“Gloogas and L-3 are down,” Chase called out for her and himself, and Evelyn smiled. She took this time to push forward, avoiding the Heavy’s gaze and falling down to their lower area and placing a Beakon down. She built up her special and was throwing out the bombs. 

The Heavy spotted her making a mess, and was going forward to push her, along with the L-3 and the Machine. She was low on ink, and tried to get behind a wall. Suddenly, the Heavy exploded in purple ink, their own color, and was quickly followed by the Machine and the L-3, who were standing too close together. 

“Collateral on the Machine and the L-3,” Tammi called out.

“Got the Heavy,” Juni added in, swimming up to Evelyn as her vision cleared. “You good?” he asked.

“Thanks to you two,” she nodded, smiling.

“Good. Go get some more turf, this game is close,” he reminded her, and she nodded, going down to cover more, and getting up another bomb rush. She was able to take out the Heavy with her Bombs, right before the game ended. 

The two teams jumped back to spawn, and they eagerly awaited the results. The whole team waited, they all looked like they were practically holding their breath as they stared up at the map. 

“Team Inkredible Power wins!” a voice called out over the speakers. 

“We won!” Evelyn cheered, bouncing up and down. They all exchanged high fives and smiles of excitement. This was a great win for them.

“That was such a close and intense game!” Chase exclaimed.

“We fought hard,” Juni agreed.

“We all deserve this win guys. We picked up new weapons and we won! We all learned something new today,” Tammi smiled, nodding. As the excitement calmed down, they went over to the other team, and thanked them for the great battle. 

 

The Team walked out of Sheldon’s shop, each holding an extra weapon case. They decided they wanted to pick up the Team comp they had done so well with today, so each one of them bought their new weapon with a 50% discount from the competition.

“We can do more variety with our team compositions now,” Chase noted. 

“It would be a really great way to switch things up,” Juni agreed.

“It will probably make our matches more interesting too, since we aren’t using the same weapons each and every day,” Tammi pointed out.

“You know? Maybe we should work hard so we can afford more new weapons, so we have even more weapons to choose from,” Evelyn suggested. The team all looked at her, and Chase opened his mouth to speak. 

“Honestly, I have no idea why we never thought of this before,” he laughed, and they all joined in. Evelyn felt warmth fill her heart. Even if they never won another match again, she felt so lucky that she still had these dorks as her teammates. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been awhile everyone. Life and school have kept me really busy. Thank you very waiting, and I hope you enjoyed the match.


End file.
